Despite the short days we’ll be experiencing for the next couple of months (let’s not kid ourselves), I’m encouraged just knowing the days are getting longer now. Every day we get a few more minutes of sunlight. For me, the worst part of winter is the lack of light. I’m pretty sure I’m not as productive in the winter time, just because I feel like, well, the day is over at 4:30. Can’t really do anything after that, right? Winter in Montreal, and most parts of Canada, is an endurance test. Everyone gets an A for getting through it!
My family and I decided to take a quick drive down to New York City just before Christmas to get away from home during the holidays and take in some cultural events. What we couldn’t count on was the weather, either on the drive down (a bit snowy and icy for the first couple of hours) or when we got there. We were very fortunate that the weather warmed up to 19C the first full day we were there. What a great break for us from the cold and snow! It threatened to rain all day but didn’t and we walked around in sweaters. It was marvellous. It’s hard to believe that driving a mere 6 hours in a southerly direction can make such a difference. We got back to a much different scenario: Montreal was covered in several feet of snow and the temperature was about -17C. It took my husband and son quite awhile to dig out a parking spot for our car. Having had a break from it, I felt much more able to regard the snow as picturesque and only a minor inconvenience, particularly perhaps because I didn’t do much of the shovelling!
While in NYC we saw a wonderful play called “Waiting for Godot”, by Samuel Beckett. Probably everyone knows of the play but perhaps few have actually seen it. I think I read it in high school and was thoroughly puzzled by it. I’m very glad that we got a chance to see it with such wonderful actors in the main roles. Patrick Stewart and Ian McEllen play two old men who meet under a dead tree (it’s unclear how often they’ve met previously at the same spot for the same purpose) to meet a third person, Godot, who never shows up. It’s amazing that a play in which almost nothing “happens” can be so riveting. Not only that, but the second half of the play is almost the same as the first, with slight variations. They talk about the same issues, the two minor characters show up again and do much the same things, and both Acts of the play end the same way, with Estragon and Vladimir discussing whether or not to come back the next day, since Godot hadn’t shown up; whether to just commit suicide by hanging themselves from the tree; deciding they didn’t have the means to do it, and announcing their intent to go, but not going, their actions frozen by the lights going out. Some people think Godot represents God, but I think he represents the inevitability of life and death. No matter what we do, or don’t do, the world goes on. We get many chances to decide whether to keep doing the same things day in and day out, but most of us, out of force of habit or fear, keep doing them, whether we’re miserable or not. This play is absurd, and very funny at times, but it points out how inane, uncomfortable and repetitive our lives often are and begs the question, “Why do we go on?”
I guess the play sounds very depressing, and my husband found it so. I didn’t find it depressing, but it definitely is thought-provoking. We all think about these issues anyway, and here it was brought home and encapsulated very cleverly. It’s important to re-examine our lives periodically, even daily, because each day goes on, very similarly, and when the day ends once again, have we accomplished anything worthwhile? It’s a good question to ask as the days get longer. Oh, and happy Boxing Day, everyone!
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